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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971702">yellow roses were your favorite, i'm so sorry</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaTunaSamich/pseuds/DaTunaSamich'>DaTunaSamich</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:46:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971702</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaTunaSamich/pseuds/DaTunaSamich</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Male Character/Original Male Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A cough, that's all that it was.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Something seasonal, he'd gotten it every year around the same time, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>but never this bad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was fine, it would correct itself in a week or two, Eren coughed again, it was like something was stuck there, been there for days.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d gone to the CVS Pharmacy down the street, picked up some ‘dextromethorphan’ the lady called it, basically a strong cough medicine. ‘The strongest over the counter stuff we have right now.’ she had said.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch had been texting him non-stop, worrisome as always, checking up on him every morning and making sure he’d been taking the medicine and staying hydrated and all that.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The thing was though, he seemed to always get a coughing fit every time his phone rang from Tetch’s calls and coughed a bit from every text, it was weird, unlike anything he’d had before.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was nice though, every text from him made his heart warm, despite the negative effects of his cold.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was just about to meet him for lunch after his shift had ended, their schedules lining up for today and there was a special at a bakery they both liked.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eren was walking up to the shop through the light mid-day rain, his beanie and hoodie keeping him warm and cozy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch was already at a table, chatting to a waitress and probably ordering their food.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d texted him that he was a block away and the order that he wanted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The bell on the door rang in his ear as he entered, the comforting atmosphere of dark brown and green welcomed him into its embrace, Tetch waving at him from across the room brought about a rasp in his breath, and pain in his chest, something new;</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that was for later, he’ll go see a doctor tomorrow, or next week, whenever he could get an appointment.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey dude, I ordered your green tea matcha and french toast, the one that has the chocolate stuffed in the middle, the uhhh… the challah one!” Tetch exclaimed loudly, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pride was evident in his voice and it made Eren cough, he’d quickly covered his mouth with his handkerchief he’d had ready. Some small coughs from earlier had already moistened it, the black fabric now lightly soaked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks man, sorry about that, I’ll be making a doctor’s appointment later today for this cough, hopefully it’s nothing serious.” Eren said while waving it off playfully.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’d better, its had its hold on you for what now, a month? And you only recently started using cough medicine?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The concern dripping from his voice made his heart beat in his throat, kind of like the other thing that was stuck there, like a sticker on the back of his tongue.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry too much, I'm sure it’s nothing too crazy.” Eren said, his cold hands encircling his hot mug of tea.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He watched as Tetch watched him sip at his cup, their eyes meeting.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The usually warm and aromatic drink barely made its way down to his stomach when he had another fit.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The handkerchief came quickly to his lips; and a weirdly off putting taste on his tongue.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch slid him a glass of water, and he took a few sips slowly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to go to the bathroom really quick, I’ll be out in just a bit,”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want me to get our meals to go then? You should really be at home resting.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eren nodded “Sure. and, you’re right, I probably should.”</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He started walking towards the restroom when someone dropped a dish near him, His tinnitus ringing mildly,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Great, thanks guy, I love the high pitched ringing in my ear’ he thought.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eren entered the single occupancy bathroom and locked the door, letting out a muffle coughing fit he had been holding in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His lungs wretched and the handkerchief came to his mouth with both hands, fluid noticeably coming from his throat, along with the stuck </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing</span>
  </em>
  <span> that had been on the back of his tongue for unbearably too long.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eren gained his breath as best he could as he looked in the handkerchief, despite it being black he could tell what was in it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Blood, and a few soft yellow rose petals.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Fuck’ </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Oh fuck,’ </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eren’s mind raced, and he started connecting dots, the obvious ones at first, but then all of the stories he’d heard about this disease, It was fairly common enough to be known about, but he’d never seen any cases firsthand. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He knew that he loved Tetch, he’d loved him for years, but why now, why did this disease start now, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He went to the sink, rinsed his mouth and then his handkerchief; bloody water swirled down the drain and he tossed the petal into the toilet and flushed it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He took a long look into the mirror to inspect himself, looking at every angle for any sign of what had just happened.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Feeling content that he had hidden all the signs, Eren walked out of the bathroom.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You good man? You look like hell, You need to get home, I’ll follow behind you to make sure you get there safe, c’mon.” Tetch said worriedly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“M’kay”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The following days were hell,</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d coughed up about a dozen more petals and a partial bloom.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’d hidden them, no, </span>
  <em>
    <span>buried</span>
  </em>
  <span> them in the trash can ofcourse. He didn’t want Tetch to come over and see them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That would raise a question too unbearable to hear the answer to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had rinsed out his sink two too many times and started to wretch his flowers into his toilet, it made cleaning up a whole lot better.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch has started stopping by, checking up on him every other day.  It made hiding the rose petals hard, almost impossible because when he did come over it started to accelerate the process.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Today was his doctor’s appointment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hopefully they could tell him how long he had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The office smelled and looked sterile, clean.  He wore a blue face mask at the receptionist’s behest, and was now waiting alone in the ‘Terminal Illness Diagnosis’ lobby, the only other company being the single reception desk worker engrossed in his book.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Eren” a voice said, breaking the silence like glass.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He raised his head, a cough ripping through him, his arm coming up instinctively to cover his flinching face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m Eren.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Follow me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eren followed the doctor to an empty room, there were posters on the walls detailing what Hanahaki Disease was, how it happened, and the symptoms of various stages.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He sat down on the raised examination bed, the paper lining crinkling as he moved onto it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, how long have you had symptoms, Mr.-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s just Eren, doctor, and for a month at least, first symptom was a cough, then a rose petal, then I started coughing up blooms, and this morning a full stemmed rose came up, more blood than usual, but I suspect that’s because of the thorns, yellow roses, yellow roses with thorns.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor flipped a few pages in a book and sighed shortly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, Eren, what do you know about Hanahaki Disease?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I know that it is caused by unrequited feelings of love, and will progress in different stages of severity, ultimately killing the afflicted patient, unless those feelings of love are truly returned by the person who is the focus of the patient’s affection.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>If they are not the patient usually dies of suffocation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>If the feelings are returned, IF they are, then the patient’s Hanahaki growth slows to a halt, and within a week all of the remaining foliage is purged from their system.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yes, doctor, I know all about Hanahaki Disease.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor looked pleased, but solemn.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, all of that which you just said was true, and Hanahaki progresses at different speeds for each patient, there is no knowing how long one has left.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>BUT, there is an experimental surgery that has been devised in recent years. The roots of the disease can be surgically removed, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Although the consequences…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor took a pause.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The consequence is that the patient that had the Hanahaki Disease removed from their system, will no longer be able to feel any emotion, no happiness, no love, no sadness, not a single emotion is retained, not even the ability to feel pain is kept, but the patient survives.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I see, doctor. I will let you know that a life, in my opinion, cannot exist without pain or joy, so I will refuse the surgery. Thank you for your time.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Here, take this card, call the number if you change your mind, it’ll leave a message on my personal cell-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I will, I’ve got to go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eren left the doctors office with no more answers for that day, not even the one he wanted most:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>How much longer?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Eren stared at the glass of water in front of him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’d had to reach his hand down his throat today and pull out a bouquet of yellow roses from inside him,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Uncomfortable for sure, but today he’d have to do something, because he didn’t think he’d survive the night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He put on his favorite outfit, put the handkerchief in his pocket and texted Tetch if it was ok for him to come over,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The back porch of his house had a table they’d played chess on every once and again while they were both too hopped up on energy drinks to sleep when they were teenagers, both too spazzy to make an educated move and laughing way to hard at stupid jokes until they both crashed and fell asleep in the living room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’d been thinking about all of the memories that they’d shared throughout his life.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This was going to be hard.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Impossible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch finally came and welcomed him inside.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey man, woah,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You look a lot worse than you did, is everything alright?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eren swallowed the best he could, “No, Tetch, I’ve gotta talk to you about something, can we please go out back?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah man, c’mon,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two walked in silence to the backyard, finding their usual seats, the chess set placed neatly on the table, Tetch was white, Eren black.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch liked to use bishops mostly, moving diagonally and then using the knights like a blind surprise.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hanahaki was a seemingly blind knight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tetch, i’m dying…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The words rang in the air like church bells on sunday, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean, why, what, what do you mean your, Eren, what.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The questions poured out of him like his tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tetch.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A cough took him over, a few rose petals fell to the gravel, covered in blood.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Tetch, I have Hanahaki Disease.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who, who is it,” Tetch was crying, he was hunched over in his chair, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A cough, and the uncomfortable feeling of the bloom, and the thorns, the stem.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eren turned, and reached, and slowly pulled the flower from inside his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eren turned back to watch Tetch weeping and his hand covering his mouth in shock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s you, Tetch, I love you, and only you, I’ve loved you for years and years, I fell in love with you not long after I’d met you, why this disease has come for me now, after all these years, it is an unknown that I don’t understand, but I understand the disease, it is quick, efficient.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And I’m sorry,”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Sad Ending</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’m, sorry Eren, I can’t.</p>
<p>You should go…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Happy Ending</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Eren, Eren you adorable idiot, do you not see how much I care for you? I’d go to the ends of the earth for you if you only just asked me to.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tetch leapt from his chair, bending down to hug Eren, but ending up on his knees crying in his lap, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Eren you idiot, couldn’t you see how I was pinning for you all these years.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Please don’t leave me, I love you, I love you, please, please don’t leave.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eren felt weird, like there was something receding, something changing, His lungs felt lighter, his breath smoother.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I’m a little in shock right now, but thank you, thank you for loving me back, I’m happy to live again, as long as it’s with you.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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